Tag: Life

  • Thoughts While Disc Golfing (Unedited)

    Early this past Saturday morning, I got in the car and I drove north to go disc golf at Beacon Glades, which just so happens to be in Beacon, NY. It’s a free course, volunteer supported, and the place is designed around an abandoned summer camp. There is a slight “Friday the 13th” vibe, especially around the hole that are in the abandoned cabins and bunks. It’s a great place, I’ve shot it twice, and the people out there, players and volunteers, are friendly and supportive. I plan on going back again this Fall if not more often.

    Normally the kid and the wife go with me, but this weekend they wanted to stay in The City, so I went out on my own. I was a little disappointed that I was going alone, as I had looked forward to some company, but I didn’t let that hold me back. Heading out on my own did mean that I was going to be able to listen to my music in the car, and to also play it loud, and to sing off key with it.

    Depending on how you look at it, it was either wonderful late summer morning, or a crisp early Autumn day. WAZE told me it would be best to cross the George Washington Bridge and take a Palisades Parkway up to the Bear Mountain Bridge to cross back over the Hudson. The Palisades is a great drive because, even though you are cutting through northern Jersey and heavily suburban Rockland County, NY, the parkway is lined and covered with trees which makes you believe that you are cutting through the middle of the woods. Everything is still green and bright here, but if you were to look at the tops of the trees, every now and then you could make out the tiniest splash of red, orange and yellow. Autumn isn’t too far away.

    Once I crossed over the Bear Mountain Bridge, I was to take state route 9D north to Beacon. This is one of my favorite drives, as the route runs parallel to the Hudson River, and gives you a clear understanding why the Valley has been an inspiration to people for hundreds of years. It’s a pleasant drive, several curves, a tunnel and lots of hikers. The drive isn’t too long, and on the out skirts of Beacon is the disc golf course.

    Like I said, I had played Beacon Glades before, and it looked exactly the same. I had an arrived at a good time, not many people playing, and I was welcomed by two guys sitting near the first hole. Not sure if they were volunteers, or just nice guys, but they pointed me to the first hole, and let me know that the conditions were good today.

    Even when I do a little warm up, stretching and throwing some practices discs, it does take me three holes to feel like I know what I’m doing. I say that because I do shank everything to the left, and cannot throwing anything straight to save my life. I am aware that there are techniques I could follow, and other tips, but to be honest, I don’t care that much. If I shot even on the course, I’d be happy; a birdy or two would be cool, but I can honestly say that’s not why I am there. Beacon Glades is the type of disc golf course that I love because it is like hiking-lite. After the fourth hole, the course heads into the woods, going up and down the side of a hill. There is a ruggedness to this place, and I’m not implying that it’s unkept, as what I mean is that the holes work with the land, and don’t feel like they were carved out.

    For the record, I shot awful; +22. Though I did par hole 10 with one of the best putts in my life that no one saw.

    It took me a little less than two hours to complete the course, and I discovered that if I am alone throwing, I talk to myself. Not that I was having a conversation with myself, just saying things out loud, like “That was awful,” “Not bad,” and “Where did that go?” I did just enough talking to only seem a little crazy.

    Walking around the woods on that Saturday, I realized that it had been years since I had gone out and done something for myself, by myself. I think it’s been over five years, when I headed out to the beach at Bodega Bay, going to the secret parking lot that a local told me about, and just watched the surf rolling in under the slightly gray sky. Since the Pandemic, I pretty much spend every day with someone. That isn’t a complaint, I love being with my family. But I give my time to them. And when I am alone, there is always something that I need to do that occupies my time.

    Heading home, I went back the way I came. I thought about heading home in a different way – maybe drive through Sleepy Hollow. But I knew the kid would be upset if I did that without her. Maybe next weekend.

  • At the Gym, Again, Sort’a

    If you don’t know; I don’t like going to the gym. I think I am on year four of trying to establish a regular habit of going to the gym. Past behavior predicts that I will stick to it for three months and then fall off the wagon.

    But I have noticed something different of late…

    No one is at the gym when I go. Not sure if this is due to me showing up way earlier than I normally would, or maybe the gym is about to go out of business. As of this moment, I can’t tell.

    What I do know is that there is no one around, and the gym is quiet, except for the music they pump in, but at that hour it’s rather low. There’s no one in the locker room, no one hanging around the water fountain, no one hanging around the front desk, and no one standing outside talking on their phone. What there is happens to be a handful of, dare I say it, normal looking people.

    So, the atmosphere has changed, but not so much my attitude. I still don’t want to be there. I would like to be healthier, and I would like to lose ten pounds, but, ahhh, still don’t want to be there.

     I am trying to find a way to enjoy being at the gym. I don’t think I will ever get that workout “high” where you feel better about yourself. What I am looking for is a good use of my time. I run for thirty minutes, at least to get in two miles, and sometimes my mind does wander. Today, I was thinking about some of the awful office jobs I have had. (That didn’t make me feel better.) I would try to read, but I’m running, so that doesn’t work. Truth of the matter, for me anyway, I can’t multitask when I’m running. I would like to be more efficient, but that doesn’t seem to be in the cards.

    Anyway, I think going to the gym early in the morning is going to work for me. Not that in want it to, but glad that it is.

  • Doomsday Dinner Preppers

    (This has nothing to do with Doomsday, or Doomsday Preppers… I just like the way the title sounded.)

    Not that anyone is keeping score, but I am a stay at home parent, and, by the way, I really do enjoy it. But that’s not what this is about.

    As the primary care giver to my daughter, that means I am the go-to guy when it comes to getting her to soccer practice after school three days a week. It’s not a huge burden, and though it can be dicey getting to practice on time, it’s a good way to spend some time with the kid. But as the primary care giver, that means when we get home, I also have to get dinner going.

    Which brings me to prepping diner for my family. I’m not talking about anything complicated here, just getting all the ingredients ready ahead of time, sometimes in small efficient containers, so when we walk in the door, I can start making it.

    I have been doing this for a couple of weeks now, and I have to say that I get such a feeling of satisfaction of sweeping into the apartment, seamlessly moving into the kitchen, beginning dinner, chatting with the wife when she’s off’a work, and having everything ready within thirty minutes, give or take. I’m like John “Hannibal” Smith – “I love it when a plan comes together!”

    (Sorry if you are looking for dinner prepping tips… I have none other than buy more small ramekins.)

    It’s having the ability to reliably and dependably provide food that my family wants, night after night. It’s about making people you care about happy. And we can sit around the table and talk and connect, and be together.

    I know that I am not breaking new ground here, but I am a little surprised at home much I have come to enjoy cutting vegetables and measuring out herbs several hours ahead of time.

    I didn’t know I had it in me.

  • ODDS and ENDS: Don’t Answer, Fandom, and City’s Full

    ODDS and ENDS: Don’t Answer, Fandom, and City’s Full

    (Throw out your frown…)

    So, I was sitting in my car this morning because I needed to move it for the street sweeper, and my phone rang with a number that I didn’t recognize. I think I’m like most people and I don’t answer calls to numbers I don’t know. If it’s important, they’ll leave a message and I’ll call them back. But this morning, the number kept calling me, and didn’t leave a message. I mean, I’m pretty sure it was a spam/bot call and no big deal, yet there is still part of me that gets a little rush of anxiety when a call keeps calling. Like, if they keep calling it must be important. It has to be important if they called three times. This must be the most important call, because they called three times from Miami! But didn’t leave a message. That’s why I don’t answer.

    I stayed up and watched the Cowboys play the Eagles. Actually, I watched until the weather delay, and at that point I called it. I was hoping that the Cowboys would win, but I wasn’t totally surprised that they lost. At the breakfast table this morning, the kid had questions about who won the game, which I found rather surprising. Normally, she doesn’t care about the Cowboys or football in general, but she was rather curious about the game, and if I watched it all. Then she wanted to know if I thought the Cowboys would win the Super Bowl, which I told her no, and that the team would be lucky to be above .500 this year. Then she wanted to know if I as going to watch all of their games, which I am. She was confused by this, and wanted to know why I was going to watch them if I thought they were going to lose. Because that’s want a fan of a team does; you suffer along with the team, and hope for next year. I really hoped that there was some important life lesson there that I was passing along, about loyalty, and commitment. But what I she made me feel was that I was about to waste a lot of time over the next couple of Sundays.

    Boy, it is not a joke. The day after Labor Day, New York City fills back up with people. Twenty years I have been here, and I keep thinking that this maxim isn’t true. And every year I am amazed how on Labor Day, no one is around, and then the next day, people are everywhere. I really should know better.

  • Focus!

    The kid started in middle school this year, and I wrote awhile back about how she is adjusting to having more homework. And it’s going okay. We are still working and adjusting to the change.

    One of the issues the kid has with doing her homework, is that she gets bored and her mind wanders. A totally normal reaction for a kid to have when it comes to reading about world history, or having to write a paragraph on the three different states of matter. What we are trying is the twenty minutes of work, and five minutes of break time. Back and forth until the home work is done. Seems to be working.

    The funny thing that I discovered about myself is that I can’t sit down and work anymore. Good lord do I get distracted easily. Like really easily. See, I have been trying to work on this blog for thirty minutes now, but I keep on thinking of something else I need to do – which I have to go and do so I don’t forget.

    Sure, I know that there are some of you out there that would call that procrastinating, and you might be right.

    But what I feel myself experiencing is a lack of focus. Like, I sit down and I write a sentence, and then I start to wonder about… well, anything and everything. I kind’a find myself going to Wikipedia and just reading page after page about weird stuff. Or seeing if L.L Bean is selling any sweaters at a discount.

    I feel that I have lost the skill of being able to sit down and focus for even twenty minutes.

    I could blame my phone, and that would be accurate. Yet, don’t I have to take a little responsibility here? If I have a lack of focus, then I am the one who created this problem, right?